A Large Gray Schist Frieze

GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

Details

A Large Gray Schist Frieze
Gandhara, 2nd/3rd Century
Well and deeply carved with a large congregation of deities, numerous seated Bodhisattvas, a pensive Bodhisattva and a fragmentary figure of Buddha at upper right, and a standing figure of Vajrapani holding a faceted thunderbolt at upper left below a worshipper bowing deeply on a lotus above Vajrapani's head, the lower frieze with a seated figure of Padmapani holding a large lotus flower and the base carved with a wavy pattern of stylized water
38 5/8 in. (98.1 cm.) high

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Klaus G. Perls
Previously sold at Sotheby's London, 3 December 1979, lot 174

Lot Essay

This relief would have formed the right half of a backplate carved in deep relief surrounding a massive central image of a seated Buddha.
Very likely it illustrates the deities surrounding the second miracle of Sravasti. After the first miracle, where he emitted flames and water (see lot 5), Buddha caused a multiplication of images of himself, with countless lotuses blooming around his own lotus seat; compare with the scene of deities surrounding the image of the preaching Buddha at Sravasti, in the collection of the Lahore Museum, in H. Ingolt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, cat. no. 255, p. 121f.

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